I’ve been saying for weeks that I think it’s gonna be Tim Kaine. (Though I’ve been hearing rumblings in the last few days about Tom Vilsack.) Both are boring, centrist white guys. But Kaine would be a huge, huge mistake, further alienating liberals and progressives like me!
From this article I read today on The Hill:
“Let’s be really clear: It should be disqualifying for any potential Democratic vice presidential candidate to be part of a lobbyist-driven effort to help banks dodge consumer protection standards and regulations designed to prevent banks from destroying our economy,” Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a liberal advocacy group, said Thursday in a statement.
“Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential pick will be seen by many as a proxy for how she will govern — boldly or cautiously?” Stephanie Taylor, head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), said Thursday in a statement.
Taylor said the litmus test for a vice presidential pick should be two-fold: First, the candidate should support efforts to rein in Wall Street banks; and second, the pick should oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sweeping global trade deal championed by President Obama.
Kaine fails on both counts. He backed fast-track authority to help Obama grease the skids for passage of the TPP. And just this week, he endorsed a letter calling on the administration to roll back certain consumer protection requirements governing some banks.
Choosing someone with those views, Taylor warned, will create “a giant opening for [Donald] Trump and other Republicans to outflank Democrats on economic populism issues and win important swing votes.”
Another thing that depresses me about the whole situation is that we could have 8 years of Hillary and then 8 years of Kaine – that’s 16* years of centrist politics! Am I the only one who thinks that’s too long to wait to elect a progressive?!
During the Shirley Sherrod episode, one of the absolute low points of the Obama administration (if the reports are true), Vilsack stood up, apologized, and even offered to hire Sherrod back.
Vilsack is fine, but not that exciting. He seems like a largely mainstream solid Dem. In 8 years he will be 73, though. So, it could be like a Joe Biden-type pick and he wouldn’t necessarily be the heavy frontrunner for the nomination. With Kaine, that’s not the case, and that’s something that is definitely not exciting.
I’d love to see Brown in the VP role, but the Senate hit makes it a non-starter. Of those left on the shortlist, Perez seems the most interesting.
I met him in Chicago and he seems affable enough, definitely had a centrist record but his wife is a solid progressive in her own right. And he had the second best 08′ logo. #Feelthesack though?
If Hillary really reached out to the Bernie supporters, the progressives in the party and picked someone who excited us, who recognized us, who represented us? Oh Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?
All we want is a VP Who’s,
Far away from the Wall Street dudes.
And no transcripts to view,
Aow, wouldn’t it be loverly?
All we’re asking is that they be
Pro labor and what else is key
They’ll stop the TPP,
Aow, wouldn’t it be loverly?
Aow, so loverly just imaging that they would be.
Free from corporate ties and then
Just representing us! .
Someone who that the record shows
Not a tool of the Monsantos.
Or any one of those,
Aow, wouldn’t it be loverly?
Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly
It’s pretty good.
I’d like Sherrod Brown myself, but as Doubleman says, we’d be deepening a hole in the senate that we want out of. Aside from a comparative lack of experience, Perez looks good.
I’m more worried about splinter groups from the Sanders delegation causing problems and Wikileaks releasing Clinton/DNC documents. I hope both are overblown. Twenty years ago, a GOP convention like this would seriously damage the nominee. I’m not sure it will now.
Tell Hillary to pick someone, anyone who is:
1. For bank regulations.
2. Against the TPP
3. Not a former connection to Goldman Sachs or Monsanto etc.
4. Against NAFTA and the Iraq War.
That’s all she needs to so to settle the “Sanders delegation”.
If she does not, she’s just kicking sand in our face.
Media suggest it’s Kaine.
. . .money guy–getting the nod while he is at a fundraiser in Newport. This was supposed to be the year that all of us on the left were really, really sincere about trying to get the money out of politics.
I also think his tenure at the DNC was a disaster.
But there is also a lot to like about him. And his pro bank deregulation stances will do less damage if he goes from being Senator to Vice President.
Until we hear, more specific, in what way Kaine stood for bank deregulation, it may be too early to draw a conclusion.
… that she choose Audrey Hepburn?
Alas, she’s dead, as well as being a brit, and born in Belgium to boot… But I might still be tempted to vote for a Clinton/Hepburn ticket over any of the Clinton/Ambien tickets so far proposed.
There was some speculation a few weeks ago over Al Franken… That would get my vote over just about anything short of Clinton choosing Barney Frank.
Certainly well-qualified having been both Governor and Senator. Former DNC chair means political and fundraising connections. Speaking fluent Spanish is a plus. On The Issues calls him a populist-leaning liberal and places him in left-liberal turf.
…I just read that it has been leaked that Bill Clinton favors Kaine.
Wow, Clintons ready to pass the baton outside family?
Kaine will be 66 and Chelsea will be 44 and Kaine won’t have many experience holes after 8 years as VP. Kaine/Clinton 2024.
Chelsea is young than I am so pondering a moment when she is in her mid-40s makes me feel old – thanks alot!:)
MSNBC just within the last minute is reporting that they can confirm that he has been selected. Sorry, betsey.